Wednesday 13 October 2010

Digging Deep


Is it just me, or have our allies in Chile made a damn site better fist of this rescue than we might have done? The Minister for Mines (is his name really Laurence Fishburne?) appears competent, genuine and speaks better English than most residents of Blighty. He's pulled it off.

One's heart bleeds for the miner whose wife AND mistress were both waiting patiently at the top of the shaft, and became aware of each others' identity for the first time just days ago. Tricky reconciliation there, one fears.

The country which had the good sense to topple its Marxist leader and appoint Milton Friedman as economic consultant in 1973 has been an exemplar to the other basket case economies of South America for decades. This is why I like the country instinctively and am not surprised by its great feat of the past two months.

Red hot, Chile!

10 comments:

Carter said...

Alas, his name is Laurence Golborne.

Astounding feat by the Chileans. I am full of admiration for them.

lilith said...

"This is why I like the country instinctively and am not surprised by its great feat of the past two months."


They make nice wine too. Never tried San Pedro cactus though.

A fantastic result, really wonderful stuff and superbly executed.

E;by The Cosmic said...

San Pedro cactus - yes. Just the once, and very interesting and powerful it was too. Last time I looked, it is still legal - oddly, given that we live in a country that seeks to ban everything that people enjoy.

Thud said...

Congratulations to all involved and well done Chile for rising above the mire that South America tends to be.

Sen. C.R.O'Blene said...

Never been there of course, but a chum told me once that Chile was in fact very English (or Scottish) in much of its culture. You could easily drop into the way of life which used to be called 'British', but probably not now.

Rather like the Isle of Wight nowadays?

NotClauswitz said...

Er, the hole was drilled by an American from Denver and assistance came from two mine-disaster companies from western Pennsylvania. But congratulations to Chile for expending the heroic effort and at least TRYING, whenever we have miners down in a collapse they seem to come out in boxes to sad music.

idle said...

Milton Friedman wasn't Chilean either, dc. The trick is to get the right people for the job.

I have a few bottles of Cousino-Macul Finis Terrae 1996 standing up at home ready for consumption this weekend, lil. As lovely a drop of cabernet as Chile produces (the Rotschilds included). ps Try to keep elby off the cactus.

Scrobs, judging by the size of most of the famiklies waiting at the pithead, those Chileans are on the same diet as the Islanders of Wight.

Elby the Beserk said...

I love Chilean wine as well, Idle. A man of widfe-ranging tastes :-)

Philipa said...

'A wise and frugal government' - ha!

Old BE said...

A truly civilised nation. Santiago is a spectacle of a city. Huge and yet human, excellent public transport, clean, wealthy. Fantastic place.

The rest of Chile is simply stunning geographically. And the culture is much more "Modern European" than most of Latin America which still suffers from the grinding poverty that results from blind adherence to the Pope.